


Home Again

by Galahand



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Fluff and Angst, M/M, Military, friends - Freeform, this took longer to post than I thought
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-18
Updated: 2015-11-18
Packaged: 2018-05-02 04:46:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5234624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galahand/pseuds/Galahand
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>5 moments in which Steve came home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Home Again

**Author's Note:**

> I not not do research about the military and it's operations so much of it is from my imagination.

The first time Steve came back from development it wasn’t to a huge fanfare of friends that he secretly thought (hoped really) would greet him. Sure he had a large amount of friends willing to see him and Bucky back home but apparently they only sent Natasha to pick them up. Not exactly the first person who he wanted to see but he gave her a strong hug that lasted probably longer than she was comfortable with even if he had been gone for nine months.

“Welcome home Steve. Missed you too but you can let go now,” she laughed

“C’mon punk. It’s my turn,” Bucky said as he lightly punched Steve’s shoulder.

As soon as Bucky had her in his arms and lifted her in the air Steve couldn’t help but look around hopefully. Everywhere there were families and friends and significant others in hugs and tears. Again Steve did not find the person he was looking for in building that army designated for the reunion.

“Let’s get to the car. I got the short straw to drive you boys back home,” Natasha said as she pulled Steve along with her. She smirked at his hastily made smile. “And your welcome home gift is waiting there.”

Steve almost ran but forced himself to just speed walk.

“Why does he get a gift and I don’t? I was away just as long and I know that I am the better looking one,” Bucky whined.

“Get a girl or boyfriend and then we’ll talk.”

Steve could feel Bucky pout and couldn’t blame him but at the moment he couldn’t care. Outside leaning on Nat’s car was his boyfriend of little more than nine months. Steve ran the rest of the way, dropping his bag (Bucky will pick it up). His mouth was quick to find Loki’s and his arms wrapped around the thinner waist tightly.

“Hi,” Steve said as soon as he felt like he needed to breathe. “I’m back.”

“Welcome back,” Loki said amid kisses.

“You weren’t inside,” Steve said with his face on Loki’s neck. He missed the smell of Loki. Granted getting together two days before Steve had to leave wasn’t exactly a good idea and there was more than a good chance that a relationship that new would not survive a nine month deployment, but that didn’t mean that Steve didn’t feel the need to have Loki and keep him.

Or at least try to. Whatever Steve was thinking at the time somehow they made a relationship based on physical letters (because Loki liked writing and Steve loved getting them with care packages) and video calls when their schedules matched. Sex over video calls proved to be interesting since they had only been together for one night, and he really preferred to know Loki’s body more intimately in the flesh than over the camera.

“I dislike public displays of affection. Worst when I am the one that people are gawking at,” Loki said.

Steve couldn’t help but roll his eyes and refused to be hurt that Loki didn’t want to meet him at his arrival. Well he did but just not inside the building.

“I might change your mind in the future,” Steve smiled brightly and hugged him tighter. He ran a hand down the much darker and longer hair. Their kisses became more heated as Steve had Loki shoved against the car.

“Save your sex for after the party and away from the eyes of us single people,” Bucky said from inside the car. Natasha was already seated inside and looked ready to leave. “I still need to find someone to help me warm my bed tonight. Want to help with that Nat?”

“Charming as always,” Loki said as he got into the car and Steve following right after him. “But I suppose that I should welcome you back.”

“Damn right you should. Especially since this punk over there kept yapping his mouth about you.”

“Loki is my favorite subject. And who is the jerk that needs a wingman at every drinking place we stopped in?” Steve said.

Bucky just laughed. Both were too happy to be home. And just like that the rest of the day and night was filled with laughing people, some tears, and lots of food. For Steve he got Loki all to himself for the next week, which prompted Thor to almost believe his brother to be missing.

The second time the two army buddies came back from an eight month tour, Bucky had one prosthetic arm and Steve had a wedding ring. Or was going to have it as soon as Thor gave it to him. Weeks of searching on line and video calls with Thor and Natasha and Tony (because he absolutely had to give his opinions since grew up a rich spoiled brat just like Loki and really they had similar tastes in everything but people they dated) to help him find a ring that Loki would like were weeks of stress and headaches. Tony of course mocked every design that Steve chose and Thor picked out rings that clearly was more suitable to his style. For all that Natasha was good at knowing what makes people tick, Steve personally didn’t want to propose to Loki with the ones that she picked. But at least they weren’t like the ones that Tony choose (insisted).

In the end it was Clint that managed to get Loki to unintentionally pick out his own ring while he was looking for a ring for his now fiancé.

This time Loki was with Thor and Tony where families and friends waited to pick up the returning soldiers. Steve grinned, ran to Loki and then picked him up and kissed him hard as the dark haired man wrapped his legs around him.

Steve ignored of sounds of Tony taking pictures and rambling about… things. He didn’t know since all he needed was Loki in his arms and their lips together.

Later when they were at the Odinson’s family house (mansion) and all their friends were together and Steve’s arms never letting Loki get more than three feet away and the engagement ring hiding in his jacket pocket, Steve couldn’t feel happier.

“What was that about public affections that you disliked again?” Steve asked Loki with a wide smile.

“You bringing up the past in jest while our relationship was new and still needed to build a stable foundation is very amusing,” Loki replied.

“Pretty sure I was asking about you.”

“People change Rogers,” Loki said with no heat. “But you may not say I told you so.”

“But I was right,” Steve laughed. He still laughed as Loki snarled and made to leave but Steve pulled him back to give him a deep kiss. “You love me.”

“Well I am the pretty one in this relationship,” Loki said into his mouth.

“So pretty,” Steve agreed. He pushed a leg in between Loki’s to get closer. “The one person that I can never get tired of drawing because you are too pretty.”

“As long as you know it.” Loki’s hands traveled underneath Steve’s shirt as they continued to kiss.

“And just to let you two know, if you two start ripping each other’s clothes I am going charge everyone and I will keep the profits,” Tony said. Steve froze and looked up. Almost everyone was staring with grins and Tony in pure Tony fashion was in their personal space with a smug smile.

He was pretty sure that Loki growled.

“What do you need the money for Stark? It was my idea! I should keep the profits!” Bucky yelled.

“Hey genius! You shouldn’t have said anything. Now who will entertain us now?” Clint added.

Steve dragged Loki away beet red. He could handle a lot of things but he definitely could not handle being the center of attention in that situation.

“What’s the matter Rogers? I thought you didn’t mind showing your affections in public?” Loki said as soon as they got to his room.

 “Just shut up,” Steve buried his still very red face against Loki’s neck.

Tomorrow he’ll take Loki out to dinner and propose. He’ll probably stutter and get just as red and maybe have trouble breathing from nervousness like he did when he was a kid growing up with very, very bad asthma, and really the list continues. But for now he’d like to forget everyone’s faces as he practically dry humped Loki in front of them.

The third time Steve comes back from deployment there was no one to greet him so he hopped on a bike and drove straight home. He’s about week early and hadn’t told anyone so the excitement that he got for wanting to see his husband’s face when he sees him would be well worth the days of lying about his arrival. Especially since he rarely could pull one over Loki. Driving the speed limit was difficult and every red light felt like days.

The original plan for when he got home was to sneak in through the back door where it opened to the kitchen and then find Loki. Instead he saw Loki and Bucky chopping vegetables together through the windows. Not what he expected since he wanted to have his way with his husband but he was learning to roll with the punches.

“Do I have to worry about my best friend stealing my husband from me?” he asked when opened the door.

Bucky’s reaction was to be expected from knowing him all his life. He yelled something about Steve being a punk and pulled him in for a big hug. It was Loki’s face that Steve kept his eyes on. The man had slow tears running down his face and his hands were shaking slightly.

Steve moved away from Bucky and took his husband’s hands in his. “Hey love, I’m home.”

That was all it took for Loki to jump practically on top of Steve and rain his face with kisses. “I should kill you, you foolish foolish man. I had all these plans for tomorrow and now they are ruined thanks to you.”

More kisses and tight hugs and more happy ramblings that became incoherent as time went on but it was ok since Steve was home. Bucky patted his back one more time before leaving (Steve insisted that he stay for dinner since he helped prepare for it and Bucky insisted that he really shouldn’t. It was only fun to tease him when Bucky wasn’t alone with the married couple after a long absent as they got handsy and cute).

“Since I’m back several days early, can I know what you were going to do tomorrow?” Steve asks when they are naked in bed and enjoying the afterglow. His hands running up and down pale skin wherever he could reach.

“The ones that you inconveniently ruined you mean?”

“Those are the ones.”

Loki took the wandering hand that he could reach and kissed it. “I was going to have Thor help me install bigger windows in your studio so you can have more natural light. It was going to be a surprise.”

All at once Steve is shocked, awed, and a little skeptical. “Love, it’s not like I don’t like the surprise because I do, I really do. But you and Thor working together, alone, doing construction like that and you both have never had to build or fix anything in a house…”

Loki stiffens and his nostrils flare. “I have done extensive research and Clint has agreed to supervise.”

Steve is quick to thank him and begins the long process of making it up to Loki for the rest of the night. When Thor and Clint come by the following morning, Steve surprises them with donuts and his presence of course. Bucky keeps him company as Loki made it clear that since it his gift to Steve he should not help with the process.

As it turns out Thor is good with tools provided that he is told what to do, Loki really does know what to do, and Clint sits in a corner “supervising.” The latter is forced to pay for lunch and dinner for not actually helping.

The fourth time Steve was away, Loki gets a visit from an officer days before Steve was due back. Loki is informed that Steve hijacked an advance enemy aircraft (when the officer says this word it makes Loki think that it is more than just a standard fighter jet) in enemy territory to prevent it from bombing nearby populations (and eventually cites here if it proves successful the officer adds which only confirms that there is indeed much more to the story).

Steve has been declared MIA and Loki can’t hear anything passed that.

Thor and his mother stay with him during this time and he barely remembers the first week of Steve’s official disappearance (not KIA… yet) or calling his family. Years later, Frigga would comment on how Loki never broken down and spent days watching the news, waiting for any news from Bucky or Natasha or Tony or Odin who had better connections with the army than he had at the time. Loki disagrees privately as he couldn’t remember anything so surely he must have been catatonic.

“Jane surely must be missing you. You need not linger here,” he remembers telling Thor on the third day.

Thor puts on a smile and squeezes Loki’s shoulders much to his dismay. He cannot be hugged or touched with his mind in so much turmoil and barely functioning. “She understands and she is worried for both of you. Besides, I do better worrying with you than at home worrying Jane while I worry about you there.”

And so they all wait.

It is a month and a half later that they finally have word that Steve is found and in a coma (how they were able to keep searching for him for so long and not declare him dead matters not to Loki). When his body is transported back to the States and is allowed visitors, Frigga drives Loki and Thor brings clothes because he knows that Loki won’t leave his husband’s side.

When Loki sees Steve he finally breaks down and cries. Steve is home but he is so very injured. No one tells him the full story (or maybe they have but he can’t remember) and he thinks that he should care, should know exactly how his husband had gotten so injured, know why he would make such reckless decisions, why he had to go and be a hero.

And hero he was since he had gotten so many visitors. Many he has never met or heard of, which said a lot since Steve was very popular and no one had a bad thing to say about him. Each person wanted to express their condolences and sharing their awe of Steve and his actions. Every story or phrase of Steve cuts deep into Loki until he has to resist the urge to scream that he doesn’t care, that he doesn’t need their pity or hero worship for Steve, he just wants his husband awake.

During the third official week since Steve was brought back home (hospital), he wakes from his long sleep slowly and is very confused. Loki is beyond relieved and counts the days until he is back (to their actual) home.

“I should kill you for making me worry about you for almost three months,” Loki says to him when they are finally in bed together at home. His fingers tracing the fading bruises and lines of injury that he can see even after it has been weeks since Steve first woke up. Some are still fresh in his mind and he traces those too. “Or maybe I should cut off one of your arms so you can match Barns.”

Of course Steve just moves his lips into a smile that melts him from the inside out. “Is that your new kink? A shiny metal arm? Maybe I should be worried about Bucky stealing you from me.”

“At least he has the decency to not crash an aircraft and think of it as a good idea.” Loki retorts. The feeling of worry and despair comes rushing back at him and claws at his throat. Once again he wants to yell and hurt someone else for the pain that he feels but he could not do that to Steve. His beautiful, brave and stupid soldier.

“I’m ok Loki. I’m home and I’m safe,” Steve tells him, knowing what Loki was feeling without being told. It doesn’t make Loki feel better as much as he would like but for now it is enough (because he just needed to have Steve say that he was safe but the desire for a more destructive outlet is still there but tempered).

Time passes and Steve is called to attend a special ceremony for his acts of bravery. He is given an honorable discharge, a Medal of Honor and his deed forever in history books. Perhaps Loki should have paid attention to all the stories that he was told.

Steve takes a job working with veterans alongside the person who found him all those months ago. Sam Wilson is a person that Loki will forever feel indebted to and the thought makes him happy that Steve was found and twitch for owing anyone anything. Regardless, he has Sam joining them for dinner (forced to really at the beginning) at least once a week which causes Bucky to constantly whine that Loki likes Sam more than him which was not fair because he saved Steve from bullies countless times when they were kids. And that one time in which he saved Steve from death by that old train when they were overseas together.

“You are here far too often being a freeloader as opposed to Sam being here once a week,” Loki snaps at Bucky one day while they make dinner together while Steve and Sam pick up some apple pies that Frigga baked. 

“I help make dinner,” Bucky points out.

“But you don’t help with the cost of food.”

“I bring drinks.”

“That only you and Steve drink.”

“Then quit being a wine sob.”

“When you stop drinking that disgusting thing you pass off as beer.”

“I scarified an arm for that boy. That has got to give me some points.”

“Which is why I haven’t chased you away from eating all our food for years.”

“You’re so cold to me.”

It is usual banter for the two. It also helps when Loki remembers that while Bucky has saved Steve numerous time and vice versa, it was Sam who found him in the wreckage. He really cannot begin to explain why that time was different or why it still affects him. The feelings of desperation have not completely left but it is manageable and really he should have thought of the possibility Steve getting that severely injured when he gotten together with him years and years ago.

Foolish decision maybe, particularly since it was only two days before Steve left for his first deployment, but worth it for the family he has in Steve now.

“Get a girlfriend to comfort you.”

“I guess I might have to since you are leaving me no choice,” Bucky gives him a cheeky grin that Loki knows he is not going to like what he hears next. “But don’t worry about missing me daily. I’ll just bring her here with me for our dinner dates.”

What Loki has to say is lost when Steve comes in with pie and Sam carrying another pie behind him. His heart leaps with happiness (still even after all these years).

“I’m home.”


End file.
